5/15/2006 Portland, OR press release EurekAlert (www.eurekalert.org) An Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute research laboratory has developed a novel mouse model designed specifically to study the often devastating head and neck squamous cell cancers. Xiao-Jing Wang, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues report their research breakthrough in the May 15 issue of Genes & Development. "This is the first animal model that mimics human head and neck cancer at both the pathological and the molecular levels with 100 percent incidence," Wang said. While scientists have identified some genes involved in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), overall, progress has been hampered by the lack of an animal model to study the development and progression of the disease. "This model will provide a valuable tool to screen for novel therapeutic and preventive approaches for this often deadly cancer," said Wang, head of the Division of Molecular Biology of Head and Neck Cancer in the OHSU School of Medicine and a member of the OHSU Cancer Institute. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer in the United States. It has a low survival rate - fewer than 50 percent of head and neck patients survive beyond five years, and this rate has not changed in the past 20 years, despite progress in developing therapies for other cancers. Patients are usually resistant to routine chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In addition, the quality of life for survivors is usually miserable because the location of the cancer often destroys [...]

5/15/2006 Wake Forest, IL press release Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com) White blood cells from a strain of cancer-resistant mice cured advanced cancers in ordinary laboratory mice, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported today. "Even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors were eradicated," Zheng Cui, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues reported in this week's on-line edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The transplanted white blood cells not only killed existing cancers, but also protected normal mice from what should have been lethal doses of highly aggressive new cancers. "This is the very first time that this exceptionally aggressive type of cancer was treated successfully," said Cui. "Never before has this been done with any other therapy." The original studies on the cancer-resistant mice -- reported in 2003 -- showed that such resistance could be inherited, which had implications for inheritance of resistance in humans, said Mark C. Willingham, M.D., a pathologist and co-investigator. "This study shows that you can use this resistant-cell therapy in mice and that the therapy works. The next step is to understand the exact way in which it works, and perhaps eventually design such a therapy for humans." The cancer-resistant mice all stem from a single mouse discovered in 1999. "The cancer resistance trait so far has been passed to more than 2,000 descendants in 14 generations," said Cui, associate professor of pathology. It also has been bred into three additional mouse strains. About 40 percent of each generation inherits [...]

5/11/2006 Vienna, VA press release Yahoo Business News (biz.yahoo.com) CEL-SCI Corporation announces that the results of a long-term survival study of cancer patients treated with CEL-SCI's drug Multikine® will be presented at a scientific conference during May 2006. Specifically, the data relates to head & neck cancer patients treated with Multikine in a Phase II clinical trial concluded over 3.5 years ago. Data from the follow-up study indicate that Multikine treatment resulted in a substantial increase in the survival of head & neck cancer patients. In addition, Multikine treatment also improved the local regional control of the patients' tumors. Improved local regional control of the tumor is considered by many surgeons and oncologists to be an important measurement of the success of a head & neck cancer therapy. Both survival and local regional control of the tumor are stated endpoints in CEL-SCI's planned Phase III clinical trial. The Phase II study, which used the same Multikine treatment protocol as proposed for the Phase III trial, included advanced primary head & neck cancer patients who were scheduled for their first cancer treatment. The Multikine treatment was administered for three weeks prior to the standard treatment for head & neck cancer, surgery or surgery plus radiation/chemotherapy. Results from this study were published in a leading cancer publication, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Timar et al, JCO, 23(15): May 2005). Head & neck cancer is an aggressive cancer that affects about 500,000 people per annum worldwide. About 92% of those cases are outside [...]

5/10/2006 Cambridge, MA press release Biocompare News (news.biocompare.com) A new technique devised by MIT engineers may one day help physicians detect cancerous tumors during early stages of growth. The technique allows nanoparticles to group together inside cancerous tumors, creating masses with enough of a magnetic signal to be detectable by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. The work appears as the cover feature in the May issue of Angewandte Chemie International Edition, one of the world's leading chemistry journals. The research, which is just moving into animal testing, involves injecting nanoparticles (billionths of a meter in size) made of iron oxide into the body, where they flow through the bloodstream and enter tumors. Solid tumors must form new blood vessels to grow. But because this growth is so rapid in cancerous tumors, there are gaps in the endothelial cells that line the inside of the blood vessels. The nanoparticles can slip through these gaps to enter the tumors. Once inside the tumor, the nanoparticles can be triggered to group together by a mechanism designed by the MIT engineers. Specifically, certain enzymes, or proteases, inside the tumors cause the nanoparticles to "self-assemble" or stick together. The resulting nanoparticle clumps are too big to get back out of the gaps. Further, the clumps have a stronger magnetic signal than do individual nanoparticles, allowing detection by MRI. "We inject nanoparticles that will self-assemble when they are exposed to proteases inside of invasive tumors," said Sangeeta N. Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of the [...]

5/10/2006 Augusta, GA Toni Baker Medical College of Georgia (www.mcg.edu) The blood of patients with head and neck cancer appears to have unique patterns of protein expression that one day could serve as a screening test for the highly aggressive cancer that is often diagnosed too late, researchers say. Studies comparing protein expression in 78 patients with head and neck cancer to 68 healthy controls revealed numerous differences in protein expression, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. “We found scores and scores of proteins that were differentially expressed,” says Dr. Christine Gourin, MCG otolaryngologist specializing in head and neck cancer and the study’s lead author. “We found there are at least eight proteins whose expression significantly differs between controls and people with cancer.” This protein fingerprint correctly classified study participants as cancer patients with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity – 82 percent and 76 percent, respectively, according to research published in the current issue of Archives of Otolaryngology. “If these results hold up over time, they would suggest that this would be a good screening test for at-risk people,” Dr. Gourin says. “Right now there is no good, effective screening test for head and neck cancer short of physical examination. Unfortunately it takes the development of symptoms to warrant a visit to the doctor, such as a sore throat; ear, tongue or mouth pain; painful eating or swallowing; or a change in the voice. Sometimes the first sign is a lump in the neck which is already a [...]

5/9/2006 Baxter, AR staff The Baxter Bulletin (www.baxterbulletin.com) As more and more states and localities move to ban smoking in public places, the major tobacco companies are responding by marketing new smokeless tobacco products. In the past week, the nation's two largest tobacco manufacturers, Philip Morris and Reynolds American, each announced the test marketing of smokeless products aimed at smokers who want to quit. Unlike conventional spit tobacco, the new products, named Toboka and Camel Snus, are both designed to be spitless and will be marketed alongside PM's Marlboro cigarette brand and Reynold's Camel brand. Public health advocates greeted the move by the two industry giants with skepticism. "I think the companies are desperate to try to find a product that reduces (health) risk," said Greg Connolly, a professor at Harvard University School of Public Health. Connolly said smokeless tobacco poses different health problems from cigarettes, chiefly oral cancer and gum disease. Growing use of such products is "potentially a disaster" for public health, he believes, because it may discourage smokers from quitting. Taboka carries a surgeon general's warning that "this product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes." "The warning is well deserved," said Allen Hundley, program coordinator of Baxter County Tobacco Control Committee. "While it is true you won't get lung cancer from smokeless tobacco, your risk of oral cancer goes up 11 times compared to someone who does not use it. Unfortunately, oral cancer is rarely caught in time. Half of all people who contract it are [...]

5/9/2006 Davis, CA Maria Pavia et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 5, 1126-1134, May 2006 Background: Oral cancer ranks as the seventh most common form of cancer worldwide. Recent reports have examined the effect of fruit and vegetable intake on the risk of oral cancer, but results are controversial. Objective: A meta-analysis was performed to arrive at quantitative conclusions about the contribution of fruit and vegetable intakes to the occurrence of oral cancer. Design: A comprehensive, systematic bibliographic search of medical literature published up to September 2005 was conducted to identify relevant studies. Separate meta-analyses were conducted for fruit and vegetable consumption. The effect of portion or daily intake of fruit or vegetables on the risk of oral cancer was calculated. A multivariate meta-regression analysis was performed to explore heterogeneity. This multivariate meta-regression analysis examined the effect of quality score, the type of cancers included, citrus fruit and green vegetable consumption, and the time interval for dietary recall of the studies on the role of fruit or vegetable consumption in the risk of oral cancer. The presence of publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot for asymmetry. Results: Sixteen studies (15 case-control studies and 1 cohort study) met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The combined adjusted odds ratio (OR) estimates showed that each portion of fruit consumed per day significantly reduced the risk of oral cancer by 49% (OR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.65). For vegetable consumption, the meta-analysis showed a [...]

5/9/2006 Chicago, IL staff WLS-TV (abclocal.go.com) According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 19,000 brain or spinal cord cancers were diagnosed in 2005 in the United States. Radiation is often used to shrink these tumors. With standard radiotherapy, either the whole brain or parts of the brain are radiated. However, more than just the tumor receives that radiation, and healthy tissue is also harmed. Because of this, radiation doses in a single treatment session are kept low to avoid major damage. Stereotactic radiosurgery devices are becoming more and more popular. This kind of radiotherapy allows higher doses of radiation to be delivered in a single treatment session. Because a high dose is used, it's vital that the radiation is only directed at the tumor and not healthy tissue. There have been many advances in radiosurgery devices over the last decade and as a result, there are nearly 30,000 radiosurgical procedures performed each year across the world. Getting Better: A new system, called Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery, is taking radiosurgery to new heights. Using multi-directional radiation beams, Novalis wraps a three-dimensional volume of radiation dose around tumors. By conforming to the contours of the tumor, the radiation is delivered in high doses to the tumor and avoids healthy brain tissue. The radiation beams are continuously adjusted during the treatment to match the shape of the tumor from numerous angles. This ensures the tumor gets the full prescription dose of radiation, while healthy brain tissue is protected. Why It's a Step Above: [...]

5/8/2006 New York, NY David Douglas cancerpage.com F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in combination with computed tomography (CT) offers advantages when planning head and neck cancer radiotherapy, researchers report in the May issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics. "This study," lead investigator Dr. Dian Wang told Reuters Health, "has proved that the fusion between diagnostic PET and radiotherapy planning CT is feasible and enhances radiotherapy target definition when compared with CT-based radiotherapy planning." "This fusion technology is critical for advanced radiotherapy planning such as intensity modulated radiation treatment -- IMRT -- for treatment of head and neck cancer in terms of high dose conformality to tumor target and sparing of normal tissue structures from high-dose irradiation." Dr. Wang of The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and colleagues came to this conclusion after a pilot study in which 28 patients with head and neck cancer were evaluated using both techniques. The images were fused and used to generate IMRT plans. The combination approach led to CT-based staging changes in 16 (57%) of patients. Volume analysis showed that the gross target volumes in the fused images were significantly different from those generated from CT scans alone in 14 of 16 patients. At a median follow-up of 17 months, 16 patients had no loco-regional recurrence. "Even though it's a small sample group," Dr. Wang added in a statement, "this study shows that fusion of PET/CT with standard CT treatment planning images is not only feasible but can actually improve [...]

5/7/2006 Baton Rouge, LA Lauri Smith Anderson theadvocate.com Like a demanding houseguest who brought too much luggage and overstayed his welcome, cancer is gladly bid farewell by those patients fortunate enough to hear the word “remission.” Finally able to call themselves survivors, they eagerly anticipate returning to a normal life. Joy and celebration follow months of recuperation from surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. The cancer is gone, eradicated, sent packing his bags of doom and destruction. But, is it really? Has the door really been bolted? Doubt and fear, held at bay, begin to creep in as the patient thinks about the other “R” word, “recurrence.” There is always a possibility cancer will come back and that it will be even worse the second-time around. Cancer inevitably leaves permanent marks on everyone it touches. Some are physical — a body scarred and weakened by the long struggle. Others are mental. When a patient comes to grips with his or her own mortality, life is never the same. Five years and three months after he was declared in remission from pancreatic cancer, John Wrenn saw his cancer return. “I was considered cured,” he said, though he admitted to having doubts. “I always figured that once you got cancer you had a ‘friend for life’ and that one form or another would appear again.” (After five years of being cancer free, most patients are considered cured.) Even before the second diagnosis, Wrenn said he was fairly certain his cancer had returned. “I was [...]